1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of application administration and more particularly to the field of data capturing and logging during application administration.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional computing applications range from miniscule compilations of logic which execute in a stand-alone environment, to globally distributed applications hosted across multiple, dispersed computing platforms. For smaller, contained applications, the administration of the application can be minimized and the responsibility for maintaining the application can rest with the end user in most circumstances. In contrast, for larger, distributed applications, the administration of the application can be a complex and time consuming task and, in consequence, the responsibility for maintaining the application can rest with one or more expert administrators.
Administering a larger, distributed application often can involve the capture and logging of data produced in association with the operation of the application. In this regard, application administrators can collect the data in order to confirm the proper operation of the application, and to troubleshoot application execution problems. Yet, in some circumstances, the data collected by the administrator can be of a sensitive nature. Mechanisms presently exist to secure access to sensitive data by limiting access to sensitive data to particular users or user classifications. However, these mechanisms are developed in conjunction with the application itself and without consideration for those who administer the application.
In the application setting, a more restrictive policy towards data access can be preferred to secure access to the data. In contrast, in the application administration setting, a more liberal policy towards data access can be preferred to so as to provide the maximum opportunity to assess the efficacy of the operation of the application. Thus, many have resorted to “hard coding” the capturing and logging of data for administrative purposes to circumvent the restrictive data access policies of the underlying application. Of course, to “hard code” data capturing and logging logic can inhibit the reusability of the code and can introduce maintenance difficulties for those maintaining the application administrative logic.
Importantly, by statically coding the logging and capturing function in an application, the determination of whether or not to capture and log application data can be based upon the data itself. Yet, in some applications it can be desirable to log data selectively based upon the user associated with the data. Also, changes to the desirability of logging data, when hard coded, is limited to decision making performed by the application developer and bears no relationship to the preferences of the user. Finally, hard coding the data logging function does not permit changes in the capturing and logging decision without also requiring a recoding of the application.